Girl Meets Okay
by peachy007
Summary: A take on Rileytown, where Riley can't go to Maya because she's too attached, Lucas will change, and Farkle has his own problems; but Zay? Zay is just there.
1. Chapter 1

**I ship Zay/Riley friendship so hard. I fell in love with Girl Meets Rileytown and thought it was the perfect opportunity to fulfill my craving. I realize the text message that Riley relayed to Maya in the show probably was all in one and not drawn out over the course of a few weeks, but for all intents and purposes, for this story, it is.**

 **It could be a little sloppy; I don't spend a lot of time editing, otherwise I end up changing the entire story. But the objective should be clear.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the show; if I did, Rucas would be endgame and Farkle would never have had a Justin Bieber haircut.**

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 **"You exist and you're weird and you get in the way of where I'm looking."**

Riley got the first of many unwanted dings from her phone one day at lunch. She was sitting amongst the fab five on a Friday afternoon in the school cafeteria, acting quirky and goofy as usual, hands flailing about and body shaking excitedly as she recounted an earlier experience from gym class. Maya grinned widely watching her best friend advance deeper into Rileytown. Lucas smiled warmly, a mixture of amusement and fondness evident in his features as he studied the rambunctious brunette in front of him. Farkle smirked, relishing in the beauty of her innocence. Zay watched from the other end of the table, mouth agape, eyes fleeting from Maya to Lucas to Farkle to Riley; his wonderment of the clumsy teen still not acclimated, even months after meeting her. Suddenly, a soft buzzing from under the table jolted the happy girl out of her story telling. She pulled her phone out from her bag and looked with perplexity at her friends in front of her, mentally counting each one of them. Wondering who could possibly be texting her at 12:30 in the afternoon on a Friday, she held her phone in front of her and read the script.

 _Annonymous: You exist and you're weird and you get in the way of where I'm looking._

Riley's face fell and immediately she began scanning the cafeteria, hoping to catch an indication of the unknown aggressor. Her friends, having witnessed her sudden change in demeanor, began searching the cafeteria as well, weary on what exactly they were looking for.

After a few moments, Maya turned back to Riley. "What is it, Riles?"

Riley's eyes were noticeably larger than normal, but she shook her head and smiled. "Nothing. Nothing, just a wrong number." She swallowed hard and placed her phone gently back in her bag, folding her hands on her lap when she was done. Maya looked at her best friend, bewilderment clouding her features, but Riley smiled a washed-out smile and Maya knew the topic was over. For now.

 **"So stop being weird and stop being happy."**

The second time that dreaded ding came was one night when they were congregated at Topanga's. The fearsome five had been brainstorming the entire night on how to stop the arts program from being eliminated at John Quincy Adams. As soon as Maya had uttered the words "Why can't we think creatively?" And Riley had countered with "there's my little artist", as if on cue, the sound of her buzzing phone had gone off. Naturally thinking one of her parents were texting her to return home, Riley casually pulled her phone out of her pocket.

 _Anonymous: So stop being weird and stop being happy._

For the second time in a week, Riley's face betrayed her and her lips curved downward and quivered. This time, Farkle was the first to notice.

"You okay, Riley?"

Riley lifted her gaze from her phone to her friends, who were all currently staring at her.

"I-I'm fine." She stumbled, standing up and grabbing her bag. "My parents just want me home for dinner. See you guys later."

"That's weird." Maya exclaimed after watching Riley's retreating form clamber up the stairs and away from Topanga's.

"What?" Zay questioned.

She shrugged. "Well, we already ate dinner before coming here tonight."

 **"No one should be as happy as you."**

The next time Riley Matthews' phone went off with unwanted messages was roughly a week later.

Maya and Isadora Smackle had left her room through the bay window about ten minutes before and Riley had just finished getting in her pajamas and brushing her teeth. The kids had exhausted themselves with worry over the probability of Farkle having Asperger's; don't get them wrong, they would have loved the evil genius all the same, but they were nothing if not fiercely protective of their clan. And they had learned the hard way that not everyone is as accepting of one's eccentricity as they were. They had been relieved when they found out Farkle did not have Asperger's Syndrome, though Riley and Maya now faced another dilemma involving Smackle. Riley sighed as she grabbed her phone from her dresser. She flopped onto her bed and scrolled through her texts.

 _Maya: I think this is something Farkle and Smackle need to figure out on their own. See ya tomorrow. xoxo_

 _Farkle: Thank you for being there for me._

 _Anonymous: No one should be as happy as you._

Riley's smile fell from her lips and her brows knitted in confusion. _Why was this still going on?_ Realization finally started to settle into her mind that she wasn't dealing with just a few mean texts. What she was dealing with was much worse. She turned off her phone and tossed it into a pile of clothes on the other side of the room. She clutched her stuffed pig close to her chest and let the tears guide her breathlessly into an afflictive sleep.

 **"Stop being who you are, or I'm going to put my foot in your weird, stupid face."**

Riley woke up the next morning with her eyes puffy and her nose red. She groaned after glancing at the damage in her mirror, gently taking a finger to trace the bags under her eyes. This was nothing a hot shower and some of her mother's concealer couldn't fix...

"You okay?" Maya nudged her best friend. They had been lucky enough to sit down on the subway this morning and Riley was uncharacteristically quiet.

Riley shook herself out of her thoughts and smiled at the blonde beauty. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired."

"Okay." Maya smiled back.

Riley wanted so badly to unleash the last two weeks of turmoil onto her best friend. She wanted desperately to share her burden with Maya; to loosen the load off of her own shoulders and commiserate sullenly with her unbiological sister. She wanted to bury her face into her shoulder and have Maya stroke her hair as she comforted her, " _We love you just the way you are, Riley Matthews."_

But Riley knew she couldn't do that. Riley and Maya had spent their lives from pre-k on living as one person. They celebrated each other's joy, cried for one another's heartbreak, raged together when the world singled one of them out, and ached during the other one's pain. Riley had learned to be the pillar of strength in their friendship; Maya had been through so much of her own pain, Riley didn't have the heart to mix even a sliver of her own to Maya's pallet.

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Riley grabbed her history book from her locker. Maya had run to drop off an art project to Ms. Kossal before the first bell. She sighed as she took one last look at her phone before turning it off. _Nothing yet_. She turned to walk into her father's classroom but a sturdy frame halted her mobility.

"Whoa, Riley" and strong arms kept her from crashing to the floor. One look into his emerald eyes and she felt her knees go weak once more, and she was silently thankful he was still holding her in place.

"H-h-hi." She breathed.

"Hi." And she could have melted into his smile. "You okay?"

For the second time that morning, the fleeting thought of confiding her secret to someone else, to share her distress with one of her best friends, to maybe gain some guidance with how to handle this situation, entered her mind. But it left almost as quickly as it came. She remembered how Lucas had acted that first week that Zay had arrived at their school and gotten himself into some trouble. She had heard the story about how he had gotten kicked out of his old school for fighting, it had even caused a slight rift in their friendship. She could still picture Lucas holding that guy up against the wall in the hallway, his face inches away, murmuring that he's as strong as a horse and doesn't even need to work at it... She shuddered. No, confiding in Lucas was not a good idea. He was intensely loyal to his friends and the last thing Riley wanted was for Lucas to turn back into Texas Lucas on her behalf.

"Riley?" Riley shook her head out of her thoughts and smiled up at him. "You okay?" he repeated, concern etched in his voice.

She nodded. "Um, Lucas? You can let go of my shoulders now." They both blushed as Lucas let one of his hands drop to his side and brought the other one to rub the back of his neck. He motioned for Riley to enter the classroom before him. She placed her books on her desk and smiled at Farkle as she sat down.

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Riley grabbed her books from her locker and clumsily stuffed them into her book bag. It was finally the end of the day and she was maybe a little too eager to go home she realized as several books missed the opening of her bag and plummeted to the floor.

She groaned as she crouched down to pick them up. "You okay?" a familiar voice asked her and suddenly Farkle was crouched in an identical position beside her.

"Yes, I'm fine! Would people stop asking me that today?" She snapped, immediately regretting her tone as Farkle recoiled slightly with surprise. She sighed. "I'm sorry, Farkle. I really am. Just had a lot on my mind today, that's all."

"No problem." He said, grabbing her books and standing up. He held his hand out to her to help her up and she gladly accepted the assistance. "You wanna talk about it?"

For a moment, Riley could hear the gears in her brain turning. _Yes, yes,_ _ **yes**_. Who better to understand what she was going through than _Farkle_? Farkle Minkus, who had been bullied nearly all his life for being different, who had just recently stood up to Billy Ross and proved that he was anything and everything but a _nothing_.

"Actually, Farkle, there is-" and suddenly Riley couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence. Because, _yes_ , Farkle was bullied and _yes_ Farkle overcame it, but Farkle is going through stuff, too. Didn't Farkle _just_ go through his own transformation from Farkle Minkus to Donnie Barnes to Farkle Minkus? And isn't Farkle _just_ getting over the fact that he doesn't actually have Asperger's Syndrome? Farkle has his own problems to face, he doesn't need to worry about one of hers. "-absolutely nothing wrong. Everything's perfect." She smiled a smile that didn't quite meet her eyes, and Farkle knew it, but he rubbed her shoulder and smiled back.

"Okay, then. I'll see you later, Riley."

Riley grabbed her phone out of her bag to text Maya that she would meet her at Topanga's at four-o-clock. As soon as she turned it on her stomach dropped.

 _Anonymous: Stop being who you are, or I'm going to put my foot in your weird, stupid face._

An array of emotions inundated Riley at once: anger, heartbreak, confusion. She couldn't understand how one person could be filled with so much _hate_ for someone they didn't even know.

Observing that it was well after school hours and the halls were empty, Riley slid against her locker to the floor, bringing her knees up her chin, and she let herself cry.

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"Hey, Sugar, what you doing out here all by your lonesome?" A lighthearted voice teased.

Riley didn't bother to lift her head, but rather grunted in acknowledgement. She felt the darker-skinned Texan boy's presence beside her a moment later.

"Hey." He said softly, moving one arm around her shoulder and using the other to lift her chin from between her knees. Riley looked at Zay with tear-stained cheeks and red eyes. "It's okay." He soothed as Riley dropped her head onto his shoulder and he wrapped his other arm around her. He didn't need to ask her if she was okay; he knew she wasn't. He didn't need to know what she was crying about; he knew she would go to them when she was ready. What he did know was Riley Matthews needed a friend, and dagnabit if Zay Babineaux couldn't be a _damn_ good friend.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So, I didn't make it clear, I realize, that this was supposed to be a one-shot. But, I got a few requests to continue, so I'll keep it going until I run out of ideas. This is a little short, but I wanted to make sure I got it up for you guys today.**

Riley cried until she felt like her tear ducts were dry and nothing more could fall from her eyes. She sniffled against Zay's shoulder and then took her hand to wipe away the residue of her crying.

She looked at him sheepishly. "Sorry, I got some snot on your shirt."

Zay rubbed her back and smirked. "The disadvantage of being so charming."

Riley punched his arm lightly. "What time is it?"

He took a look at his watch. "Oh, let's see here, four-ten."

"Oh my God, I was supposed to meet Maya ten minutes ago!" Riley scrambled to her feet and grabbed her bag, searching frantically for her cellphone before Zay coughed pointedly and held it out for her.

She blushed and mumbled "thanks" before responding to Maya's _where are you?_ text. "Are you coming?"

Zay nodded and stood up. "Uh, Sugar? Maybe you wanna head to the bathroom and freshen up a little first?"

Riley slapped a hand to her forehead and nodded. "You're right." She told him as she handed him her backpack and cellphone. She turned on her heel and rushed down the hall, but stopped abruptly and turned back to Zay.

"Zay?"

"Hm?" He answered, raising his eyes from his phone to look at the tall brunette twisting her fingers together across the hall.

She smiled lightly. "Thank you." And she turned back around to continue her journey to the bathroom.

Zay smiled to himself as his attention was redirected to the ding of his cellphone. No, wait, that was definitely the girlish sound of Riley's ringtone, not his. He swiped open her screen to respond to a text message that was no doubt from Maya. His face dropped when he read the malicious content and realized that what he was reading was not a perturbed and aggravated response from Maya to Riley for running late to Topanga's, but rather a nasty and hateful text from an uncredited source. His fist clenched and unclenched at his side.

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Riley splashed some water on her face and leaned against the sink, taking her fingers and gently going over the swells underneath her eyes. She turned around and leaned against the counter as she closed her eyes and exhaled. She never thought she'd be thankful to have Zay Babineaux in her life. She had felt so shaken and uneasy when he first arrived to their classroom in New York so many months ago; she always knew that as long as she had Maya Hart and Farkle Minkus in her life, she was complete. Then she fell into the lap of Lucas Friar and she was immediately smitten, accepting the handsome southerner in their circle immediately. And that was it; that was all they needed. It was the four of them against the world, until Zay came storming in one day, wreaking havoc in their middle school lives and upsetting the blissful simplicity they had built around themselves. In due time Zay had proved his loyalty to the three friends, having already established that trait with Lucas long ago. He fell into their group with ease, providing comedic relief when needed, and especially when not. The group consisted now of Riley Matthews, cheerful optimist; Maya Hart, artistic rebel; Farkle Minkus, altruistic genius; Lucas Friar, protective moral compass; and Zay Babineaux, loyal comedian. And now, it warmed Riley's heart to experience firsthand that she could count on Zay to be there for her in the same capacity as any one of the others; maybe even lean on him a little more when it was something she felt would only disrupt the blithesome nature of her friendships. She pushed herself away from the counter and headed out the door back down the hall to find Zay. Yeah, Zay was easygoing and placid. Maybe she would be able to unload onto him... one day.

She found him with one leg bent behind him, leaning against the wall next to her locker. His attention was focused on his cellphone and she wasn't sure if he had heard her walk up or not.

She cleared her throat. "You ready?" He nodded and propelled himself from the wall, leaning down to pick up their bookbags. "Did Maya text me back?"

Zay shook his head. "No. But someone else did."

Riley knitted her brows in confusion. "Who, Farkle?"

Zay shook his head once more as he handed Riley her phone, with the text that she received only minutes before, open. Her expression swiftly shifted from confused to angry.

"You went through my phone? How could you do that, Zay? That's a complete invasion of privacy! You had no right to do that- I trusted you!"

Zay held his hands up in defense. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, Riley. I didn't go through your phone. I thought it was Maya texting you back."

Riley took a breath. "Okay. I forgive you. Now, let's go, we're already late." Riley started to walk past him towards the exit when suddenly she felt him grab her arm and pull her back.

"Hold on there, City Girl. What's going on?"

Riley closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, trying to gain composure. "Nothing, Zay, I'm handling it."

"Handling it? Riley, there are ten texts like this, all from the same number. _'You exist and you're weird and you get in the way of where I'm looking_ '-"

"Stop, Zay." Riley said through clenched teeth.

Zay ignored her. _"So stop being weird and stop being happy. Or I'm going to_ -"

"I said stop!" Riley practically screeched. She hadn't realized her fists were clenched until Zay gently took her hands into his and unclenched them for her. He let go and stepped back. "I know what they say." Riley said softly, eyes brimming with unshed tears. Her hands immediately shot up to her eyes, wiping the tears away before they had a chance to fall. She took a breath and looked back up to Zay. "Are you coming or not? We're already late."

And with that Riley stalked off towards the exit as Zay shook his head in incredulity, taking a few moments before running to catch up with her. "Riley! We should talk about this, it's not right-"

Riley spun around on her heel and stopped right before the door leading outside, causing Zay to skid to an abrupt stop to avoid colliding with her. "I told you I'm handling it. I've _been_ handling it for weeks," she hissed, an unnatural venom in her voice that terrified the usually playful Texan. "I _got_ this." Without another word, Riley pushed open the door and she and Zay made their way to Topanga's together, not speaking again about the incident, but both of them replaying the messages in their mind over and over again.

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Lucas and Farkle sat on the couch at Topanga's, Farkle going over some geometry problems with Lucas as they wait for Riley and Zay, and Maya sitting by the window, trying to cure her boredom by balancing a pencil on her nose.

The door crashed open and Riley breezed through, Zay quick on her heels.

"Little Plant!" Maya beamed.

"Peaches!" Riley countered, and Zay knew he was the only one of them who could tell the pep in her voice was forced.

Riley took a seat next to her best friend immediately, and Maya scooted closer to her and leaned her head on her shoulder before murmuring "Never leave me alone with these two again. I nearly yawned myself to death."

Farkle shot Maya a glare while Lucas launched a crumpled piece of paper at her forehead.

"Huckleberry! Why I oughtta-"

"What took you two so long anyway?" Farkle interrupted Maya, before Lucas had a chance to escalate their banter.

Riley looked nervously to Zay who shook his head and shrugged. "They let ballet class out early. I ran into Riley in the hallway and asked her to help me with some moves for next class." He said casually as he kicked his feet up on the table and folded his hands behind his head.

Riley sighed in relief and mouthed a small _thank you_ to Zay, whose jaw was clenched and his eyes were hard. She cleared her throat nervously, directing her attention towards Farkle and Lucas. "So, what have you guys been up to?"

Lucas sighed. "Farkle's trying to go over these geometry problems with me. It's hopeless, though; it's like Chinese!"

Farkle smirked, "Well, we can't all be good-looking and ingenious." He patted Lucas' shoulder comfortingly. "Sorry, buddy."

Lucas chucked. "Yeah, I bet you are."

Maya and Riley pulled out their history homework to work on together, Farkle continued tutoring Lucas on his geometry, and Zay did minimal work on an English essay he had due, before becoming bored and inserting himself back and forth between his two groups of friends; tension between him and Riley dissolved almost completely.


	3. Chapter 3

Riley woke up the following morning and immediately felt something was off. The sunlight was beaming through her bay window like most mornings, but instead of it fueling her usually effervescent attitude, she pulled her covers back over her head and sunk deeper into her pillow. She squeezed her eyes shut and silently prayed for it to be Saturday. When she realized God would not be granting her plea, she pulled the blanket down to her chin and awaited the arrival of her best friend.

She didn't have to wait long before a blonde mass of hair entered through her bay window.

"Cough, cough. Sniffle."

"No, no, no, no." Maya immediately countered Riley's feeble attempts at feigning sick. "You can't be sick. I don't know how to do this life thing alone."

"I think I have the foo foo plague." Riley knew she was being ludicrous, but she enjoyed the soft morning banter between she and Maya.

She was even beginning to feel a little better about the upcoming day, the two girls giggling together, when suddenly it was ruined.

"Okay, can we please go to school now and get out of Rileytown?" Riley felt her face fall, and by the look on Maya's face, she had caught it, too. "What? I just said can we get out of Rileytown-"

And suddenly Maya found herself being pushed out of the warm enfolds of Riley's bed and sitting painfully on the cold, hard wood floor. "What is it with you? That's just a word I made up."

"I know what it means." Riley's voice was hollow. "It means that I'm goofy and silly and weird."

"It means you're unique!"

"I don't want to be unique." Riley's brown eyes usually twinkled, but right now they held a different glisten that Maya hadn't seen in her best friend before. "I don't want anybody to notice me."

What should have been a typical morning in the Matthews household took a drastically unfamiliar turn as the morning wore on.

"You're a bully." And if Riley had not been so consumed by her own torment, she would have taken note of the hurt in Maya's eyes.

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It was halfway through her father's history lesson that Riley heard the familiar ding of her phone go off. She pulled it out of her bag and glanced at it quickly.

"Riley, no one should be texting you in class." Her father chided, and she placed it back in her bag.

Her eyes briefly caught Maya's raised eyebrows and Lucas' concerned expression, but they rested on Zay, whose gaze was unwavering and held disquietedness. He clicked the inside of his cheek with his tongue, but he was not the first to break their stare.

Riley turned around. "I agree." She turned her attention to Maya. "I don't want you to say Rileytown anymore."

Maya rolled her eyes. "I like Rileytown. I like you and I like to say whatever I want."

Before Riley knew what was coming out of her mouth, and in perfect likeness to her father's lesson, she had challenged her best friend to a duel.

"So, why am I telling you guys a story about what happens when you fail to resolve a conflict peacefully? Lucas?"

Lucas kept his eyes on Riley, who was still staring intently at Maya. "People get hurt."

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After challenging Maya to a duel after school that day, Riley had lost her appetite and decided to forego lunch entirely, trading in the pandemonium of the cafeteria for the quiet seclusion of the janitor's closet. She had scurried out of her father's class without waiting for Maya, which is something they never did, regardless of what their current circumstances were.

She hugged her knees to her chest and pushed her sandwich to the side.

She half expected Maya to come bursting through the door and demand for her to tell her what's been wrong, and stubbornly not leave until she got an answer.

She half expected Farkle to knock gently on the door before letting himself in and sliding beside her, asking her sweetly if she wanted to talk about it.

She half expected Lucas to push through the door, ask Riley if she was okay, and then chastise her about not going to them to begin with.

But, most surprisingly, she almost fully expected Zay to open the door with a reproachful look and sit beside her anyways.

Instead, Riley sat in the janitor's closet for the whole lunch period, by herself, sandwich untouched.

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"Maya, as the one challenged to this duel, you get the first shot." Zay explained, standing in between the two girls. "Alright, you'll take three paces, turn and fire."

"How do you know how to do this so well, Zay?" Farkle questioned.

"Well, back in Texas, we call this a Wednesday." Zay half-shrugged before continuing. "Ice cream ready? One, two, three, turn, fire!" He stopped abruptly. "Wait a minute, something's wrong." Lucas and Farkle smirked at each other before each grabbing one of Zay's arms and pulling him back a couple feet. "Oh, that would have been bad!" He paused for a second, glancing quickly from Maya to Riley. He briefly entertained the idea that perhaps Riley needed this, if for no other reason than to let out some of the pent up aggression of keeping such a secret. "Fire!"

Maya took one step towards Riley before turning around and handing her ice cream cone to Mr. Matthews.

Despite the praise her parents bestowed upon Maya for her mature resolution skills, Riley was not easily swayed by her mother's insistence to do the same.

"You're a sweet, weird little goofball and I love you just the way you are, deal with it." Maya smirked as she walked towards her best friend with her arms outstretched; but instead of falling into her embrace, Maya was met with the cold reality of an ice-cream cone to the face. She wiped the sticky goo away from her blue eyes just in time to see the backside of Riley storming out of Topanga's.

The four friends sat in the bakery, discussing amongst themselves what could be wrong with Riley, Zay unusually quiet.

"Why are you so calm?" Lucas asked Maya, watching as she took her towel to dab at some more ice cream that had been missed during the first couple of cleanings.

"Because, this isn't her. This isn't Riley at all."

"This is like when I always used to wear my turtlenecks and then there was somebody that didn't like that I-" Farkle's ramble fell flat and Zay immediately noticed the pause in his voice and looked up. "Oh my gosh." Zay tried to meet Farkle's gaze with his own, but Farkle was already focused on Lucas.

"What? What are you looking at?"

"You gotsta go. We need more towels."

"What?" Lucas truly did not understand the sudden urgency for more towels, and he looked briefly at Maya.

"Maya needs more towels!"

"I'm fine." Maya tried to argue, but Farkle was determined.

"Get her more towels!"

Zay understood what Farkle was doing and quickly jumped up to go with Lucas. "Okay!"

Farkle's head was spinning as he moved closer to Maya to explain to her what was happening to their usually perky best friend. He mentally kicked himself for not seeing the signs sooner. It all made perfect sense now; the hollow stares, the sudden moodiness with her friends, her absence at lunch.

"I think she's trying to get you to hear her." Farkle explained further to Maya, gently and subtly; he wanted her to comfort her best friend the way they had all comforted him when he was going through the same thing, though he still felt loyalty to Riley and didn't want to be the one to fully divulge her secret.

"Hear what? Why does she keep talking about a bully if she knows I'm not-" Farkle watched as Maya finally realized what he had just discovered only moments ago. "Oh no."

As soon as the realization hit, Maya had run out of Topanga's as fast as she could, and Farkle was left to explain to Zay and contain Lucas.


End file.
